Those who cling to their pets may someday clone them

March 22, 2000
Web posted at: 7:43 AM EST (1243 GMT)

From Correspondent Rusty Dornin

SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- An anonymous billionaire loves his dog -- Missy -- so much that he wants another one with the same genetic endowment.

So he's funding the Missiplicity Project at Texas A&M University in an effort to have her cloned.

The owners of 13-year-old Missy are expected to end up paying at least $2 million in their pursuit of a canine copy. Sixty-two dogs at Texas A&M are would-be surrogate moms for Missy Two. Researchers believe they will be able to clone the dog within the next year.

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Cloning

Eventually it might not be just the fabulously wealthy who can afford to clone their pets. The cost may come down to the price of a new car.

The Genetic Savings & Clone Web site

"The type of animal you want to clone is a once in a lifetime masterpiece of Mother Nature," said Lou Hawthorne of Genetic Savings & Clone Corp. "It could be a mutt. It could be a purebred, but it's an animal that, for whatever reasons, you want to capture those genes."

To capture your pet's genes, Genetic Savings and Clone will send you a special box. A vet takes your pet's DNA, and for $1,000 it will be frozen until the process is perfected.

The flea in this genetic soup is a worry over whether animals produced from cloning will be as healthy as the originals.

Hank Greely of Stanford University said, "There's a little bit of evidence -- cloning from cattle particularly -- that there are some higher rates of some problems with joints and growth."

Dog owner Julie Budde doesn't think a canine copy really is. "It would be cool if it would come out the same, but it wouldn't be the same dog," she said.

"I do think it's important to note that it would be the illusion of sameness -- cloning won't make a pet or a person immortal," Greely cautioned.

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Savings and Clone

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